Method and apparatus for handling segmentation in a wireless communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12550000-B2
Application number	US-202418407766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2024
Priority date	Jan 31, 2023
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G communication system or a 6G communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4G communication system such as long term evolution (LTE). A method for handling segmentation in a converged layer 2 (L2) communication network is provided. The method includes assigning, by a converged L2 of a transmitter, a L2 sequence number (SN) to a protocol data unit (PDU). The L2 SN includes at least one of a last segment indication (LSI) indicating a presence of a last service data units (SDU) of the complete PDU, a length indicator exist (LIE) indicating a presence of a length indicator (LI) after a L2 header, or a SI indicating a segmentation status or stage of the complete PDU, receiving, by a medium access control (MAC) layer of the transmitter, a grant opportunity or a transmission opportunity for transferring the PDU available at the converged L2, and sending the PDU to a lower layer of the transmitter for transmission to a receiver with or without segmentation based on the grant or a transmission opportunity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method performed by a transmitter in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from an upper layer by a converged layer 2 (L2) of the transmitter, a plurality of service data units (SDUs); concatenating, by the converged L2, the plurality of SDUs to form a complete protocol data unit (PDU); assigning, by the converged L2, a L2 sequence number (SN) to the complete PDU, wherein the L2 SN includes at least one of a last SDU indicator (LSI) indicating a presence of a last SDU of the complete PDU, a length indicator exist (LIE) indicating a presence of a length indicator (LI) after a L2 header, or a segment indication (SI) indicating a segmentation status or stage of the complete PDU; receiving, by a medium access control (MAC) layer, a grant opportunity or a transmission opportunity for the complete PDU; and transmitting, to a lower layer by the MAC layer, the complete PDU with or without segmentation based on the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting of the complete PDU comprises:
determining, by the MAC layer, whether the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to send a complete PDU; in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to send the complete PDU, transmitting the complete PDU to the lower layer without segmentation; and in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is not enough to send the complete PDU, segmenting the complete PDU into a plurality of PDU segments and transmitting the plurality of PDU segments to the lower layer.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting of the plurality of PDU segments comprises:
generating, by the MAC layer, a segment header for each PDU segment of the plurality of PDU segments based on the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity; assigning, by the MAC layer, an identifier field with a same L2 SN to each PDU segment in the segment header,
wherein the L2 SN includes a segmentation offset (SO) field, and
wherein the SO field indicates offset from a first byte of a payload,
generating, by the MAC layer, a MAC PDU by assigning a MAC sub header to the plurality of PDU segments of the complete PDU; and transmitting, to the lower layer by the MAC layer, the MAC PDU.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the transmitting of the MAC PDU comprises:
determining, by the MAC layer, whether the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to transmit an original LI in transmission time intervals (TTIs); in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to transmit the original LI in subsequent TTIs, transmitting the original LI in all payloads of the PDU segments of the MAC PDU in the subsequent TTIs; and in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is not enough to transmit the original LI in the subsequent TTIs, transmitting a truncated LI only for a portion of an SDU which is present in the PDU segments of the MAC PDU after segmentation.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein, in case that the identifier field for the PDU segments in a same L2 Header, the same L2 SN is assigned for all the PDU segments of the complete PDU.

6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting of the complete PDU without segmentation comprises:
generating, by the MAC layer, a MAC PDU by assigning a SI indicating that the complete PDU is not segmented, an LSI indicating that the complete PDU includes the last SDU which was concatenated to form by the completed PDU at the converged L2, and a LIE indicating a presence of a length Indicator as a L2 Sub Header including an LI field for the plurality of SDUs; and transmitting, by the MAC layer, the MAC PDU to the lower layer of the transmitter for transmission to a receiver.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the LSI is set high when the SI indicates the last SDU of the complete PDU.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the LIE is set high when the LI exist following the L2 Header.

9 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the concatenation of the plurality of SDUs is done in non-real time (NTR), and wherein the segmentation is performed in real time (RT) by a layer between the converged L2 and the MAC layer or by a MAC layer using same SN as a packet at converged Layer 2 or a new identifier at MAC layer or a new layer between the converged L2 and MAC layer.

10 . A transmitter comprising:
at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the transmitter to:
receive, from an upper layer by a converged layer 2 (L2) of the transmitter, a plurality of service data units (SDUs),
concatenate the plurality of SDUs to form a complete protocol data unit (PDU) using the converged L2,
assign a L2 sequence number (SN) to the complete PDU using the converged L2 of the transmitter, wherein the L2 SN includes at least one of a last SDU indicator (LSI) indicating a presence of a last SDU of the complete PDU, a length indicator exist (LIE) indicating a presence of a length indicator (LI) after a L2 header, or a segment indication (SI) indicating a segmentation status or stage of the complete PDU,
receive a grant opportunity or a transmission opportunity for the complete PDU using a medium access control (MAC) layer, and
transmit, to a lower layer, the complete PDU with or without segmentation based on the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity using the MAC layer.

11 . The transmitter of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further cause the transmitter to:
determine whether the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to transmit a complete PDU using the MAC layer; in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to send the complete PDU, transmit the complete PDU to the lower layer without segmentation; and in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is not enough to send the complete PDU, segment the complete PDU into a plurality of PDU segments and transmit the plurality of PDU segments to the lower layer.

12 . The transmitter of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the transmitter to:
generate a segment header for each PDU segment of the plurality of PDU segments based on the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity using the MAC layer, assign an identifier field with a same L2 SN to each PDU segment in the segment header using the MAC layer, wherein the L2 SN includes a segmentation offset (SO) field, and wherein the SO field indicates offset from a first byte of a payload, generate a MAC PDU by assigning a MAC sub header to the plurality of PDU segments of the complete PDU using the MAC layer, and transmit, to the lower layer, the MAC PDU using the MAC layer.

13 . The transmitter of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the transmitter to:
determine whether the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to transmit an original LI in transmission time intervals (TTIs) using the MAC layer; in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is enough to transmit the original LI in subsequent TTIs, transmit the original LI in all payloads of the PDU segments of the MAC PDU in the subsequent TTIs; and in case that the grant opportunity or the transmission opportunity is not enough to transmit th

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Deshmukh Aneesh Narendra
• Ostwal Nayan
• Sharma Neha
• Kothiwale Mahantesh
• Nigam Anshuman
• Sonu Mayank
• Cha Jiyoung
• Kim Dongmyoung

Classifications

• H04W80/02

  Data link layer protocols · CPC title

• H04L47/34

  ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers · CPC title

• H04W28/065 Primary

  using assembly or disassembly of packets · CPC title

• H04W28/06 Primary

  Optimizing {the usage of the radio link}, e.g. header compression, information sizing {, discarding information (system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365)} · CPC title